I feel... Different, somehow. I suppose this should be expected, seeing as how I now have a body. Instead of my usual, unmoving octagonal shape, I can feel long, fleshy extensions twitching slightly. I suppose those are my "limbs", then.

My immediate surroundings are soft and warm. Not nearly hot enough for my liking, of course, but pleasant all the same. I can also... "hear" something. Like slow breathing, very close to me. Whoever it is appears to be asleep.

Alright, first order of business is to open my eyes. Easier said than done but, after a lot of face-scrunching, I succeed. The first thing I see is the face of a sleeping girl, merely a few inches away from mine, her blond hair strewn about messily. I don't recognise it, of course, but I could never mistake the inner flow of her magic, even as slow as it is presently.

Mistress.

Immediately more comfortable, I start to slowly experiment moving my arms about without waking her, bringing my hand in front of my face and clenching it with childlike wonder. Satisfied with my motor functions, I slowly sit up, still not waking my mistress. Spotting a mirror on the other side of the room, I take a moment to take stock of my appearance.

I resemble mistress quite a bit, with a similar body frame and even similar facial features. I probably subconsciously copied those from her when I created this body. My hair, however, is shorter with a fiery red-orange color that matches my eyes.

Problem is, Aya's got a point, too. That first piece isn't doin' ya any favors standin' on its own, not if that whole Keine-droppin'-in thing gives ya anything to judge by. And sure, it's been all quiet on the eastern front since then—nobody knockin' the door down to make sure Rinnosuke hasn't been robbed or chained to the radiator or stabbed in the back with a Swiss multi-tool (he hasn't even got the right pipes for a radiator and it's the gappy kind so it doesn't even make a good surface sideways), but if it happened once, it can happen again, and you're not lookin' forwards to gettin' used to all of Rinnosuke's buds stoppin' by to size ya over for all the wrong reasons.

Plus, it's a matter of principle. If you're gonna have a rep Gensokyo-wide, ya wanna make sure it's an accurate rep. Let 'em know you're awesome, but rockin'-guitar-solo awesome, not Old-Testament-Yahweh awesome, which was loadsa times not awesome at all.

“I'm game,” ya say. “Hit me.”

Aya looks over at the door edge, then at you again. “Hit you?” she says.

“I mean get with the askin' already—I'm agreein'.” And that's the second time in this many days you've dazzled someone with a card game metaphor, not countin' Rinnosuke who always pretends to get it and then goes leafin' through a pair of dictionaries when he thinks you're not payin' attention. It's sorta doofusically admirable, so you're givin' 'im a pass. “Ya wanna sit down or something?” ya add.

Aya does wanna sit down or something. She barely pauses to do the (belated) obligatory Japanese ritual politespeak, and then she's practically rushin' in, strides gargantuan with—

Your first sound is that of the rain pouring down, and your first sight is that of the charcoal blasted ceiling, with a hole in the corner, through which rain falls into and partially floods the simple house you find yourself in. You can smell nature and decay and chemicals unknown.

And your first thought is this: I am a failure.

From my very first moment of life, you realised this, before any other piece of knowledge: That you are a failure, that you were born in failure, that you shall live in failure, and that you shall die in failure. You were born in a building half-broken, beneath a storm.

“If I were to stay with you, could I at least let my family know about this?”

“Of course you can, dear. Why, if I may ask?”

You tighten your arms about Alice’s waist. “I used to take nightshift assignments back in Melbourne. Often had to spend my night outdoors, so yeah.” You’re slightly worried when Alice stays silent, but your doubt is quickly washed away as she gently pats you. “I take it as a yes, then.”

“Are they capable of doing that?” you ask, slightly concerned over the fact that Alice’s entrusting her dolls to do the bidding.

“What are you talking about?” So saying, both Shanghai and Hourai appear beside Alice and curtsy to their master. “Like I said earlier, they’re my best creations and I’m very proud of them. Is there anything you’d like to convey to them before I send them?”

[X] Yes, please choose one. [X] Ask Kogasa about… -[X] How she manages to be so youthful at her age.

I am a million years later here, but I have to say that I like this. I really do. I hope you will resume this sooner or later, SATA. And seeing how LSL came back, I have hope that you'll do the same here.

Okay, so waking up's not the weird part. You do it all the time, actually. Waking up is your bread and butter, by which what you're trying to say is that you wake up, and then you eat some bread and butter before you jet out the door so you don't get later than the late you already are. A long time ago you were all—cereal! Toast! OJ! All part of this balanced breakfast—but you always ended up bustin' into where you were supposed to be just in the nick of time even when you got up early to bother with toast prep, so you nixed it. It's not like you need something in your stomach anyway, in the mornings. It's all preference. Like shampoo.

So waking up's not the weird part.

Waking up in a forest, though? When you're something like ninety-nine percent sure you didn't go to sleep there? Totally weird. Good thing you've got a system.

First things first—gotta check for immediate complications. You feel around for stitches you don't remember getting and come up empty, which means you probably still have your kidneys. Or was it your liver? Either way, they're all three probably still in you, unless someone's figured out how to do stealth surgery, which is a legit concern but not one you can do anything about right now. Your heart's still beating, so you haven't been turned into a zombie or a vampire or a zombie vampire or anything like that—probably, again. Your vision's keen, and when you say “Testing testing,” it's as clear as it oughta be which takes care of hearing and vocals all at once.

Anything else?

Your head feels fine, which means nobody clocked you when you weren't looking—though that would've meant one mystery down. You run through the vitals anyway. You remember where you grew up and where you went to school. You know your mom's name and your dad's name a

The image at post >>28204 is a badly drawn parody of Gheorghe Tattarescu's “Nemesis, zeiţa răzbunarii”. I drew it myself. I got a fair bit into it before I remembered I couldn't draw. In Greek mythology, Nemesis was a goddess who meted out divine justice. Christie knows this, when I remember she knows this.

The image at post >>28097 is from the music video to Semisonic's “Closing Time”. I like that song unironically and there's nothing you can do about it. Well, I suppose you could do something about it, but I feel like the effort would be disproportionate.

I feel like I shouldn't have called them “respect knuckles”. I don't know why I called them “respect knuckles”. I should have just gone with “fistbump”. The title of the image that went with that post is even “fistbump.png”.

I've been trying to find people to play tabletop games with via irc, but most of the people I can find who are playing irc tabletop games at all are playing in really depressing settings. I want to have fun. I don't want to wander a dead world, or be faced constantly with the specter of my own mortality.

There's no deeper meaning to this being Patchouli. I just searched for images of a Touhou character pointing in an upward direction. I couldn't make my search that specific, though, so I went with "Touhou" and "pointing" and from there sorted through the results myself.

[c] Talk with Grandma about… - [c] …what she had wanted to tell you back at her home.

“Grandma.” You squeeze her hands, making her tremble slightly. “Look at me, just for one second.” You chuckle over her reluctance and push her chin up; a bright blush decorates her soft cheeks the moment your eyes make contact. “Come on, you know we both have nothing to hide from each other, right?”

She breaks off the eye contact and looks away, trying to hide her blush. “Treating me like I’m younger than I should,” she murmurs. “You’re embarrassing me, Alyssa, even though I’m older than you…”

You laugh softly. “You know what they always say about me,” you say. “A heart-stealing magician of the blazing star, right?”

[X] Since she's offering I'd like to share some of the latent worries caused by today.

Although I don’t want to burden Wriggle with my worries, getting them out in the open should help. “It was just crazy today when Reimu kicked the door off of its hinges. She looked far more menacing than any youkai and started making various accusations about Miss Keine. Most were rather crude, and Reimu also threatened her with some 'secret' that she knows. Father and Mr. Yaguu arrived to stop her from doing more, and she left saying that Keine's position was created solely to spite her. If what Reimu said is right, the more it seems that the biggest thing trying to subvert the order of Gensokyo is the better part of the council. Those old fools… have they no respect for history?” There goes the water and the shampoo… oh that feels nice. I don’t know how I’ll manage to wash my hair myself now that I’ve felt how Wriggle does it.

“I’m not really sure about all that, but I know that Keine isn't someone who'd abuse her power… or looks,” answers Wriggle. “I think Reimu was just driven to say those things in anger. Cheer up though: the village has a bright future since those old men won't be around forever, and will be replaced by people with more sense, like you.” Now she's moving to the back... ah, that feels so nice.

“Wriggle, that really feels nice. I can't think of anything else to say that doesn’t come off sounding cheesy…” I say. I really can’t say much else; something like 'I don't know how I could have lived without this' or something equally worse would ruin the moment. I think I've cleaned up everywhere else as Wriggle rinses me off. I stand up to let her sit down.

“Yuki, could you wash my back now? I'd ask you to do my hair, but with these, it's better to be careful,” Wriggle says, pointing to her antennae. I nod and start working the soap into a lather before I try my best to replicate what she did. Leaning into my hands, she

You breathe deeply, enjoying the fresh wild scent of storm-tossed atmosphere. The rainbeat tempo upon the porch awning has subsided to a gentle rolling patter, and a stiff, clean wind is pushing the clouds away. You tap your empty teacup against one knee and sigh discontentedly. The stifling, humid heat has been banished at last, but it brought a restlessness you can't quite shake.

It's furtive and quick, an annoying, jumpy energy that flits from excuse to excuse, every single one saying "get out of the house." You've had no luck with your research as of late – the primary energy loop needed to power a Goliath-size doll simply refuses to stabilize – and the other potential energy source -

- you fling the damn teacup across your lawn, watching it bounce and skip as it rolls across the turf. Every time you walk into the laboratory its staring you in the face, and you just can't stomach it anymore. You've never resorted to that crap. Never will. But...

You stand and stretch languidly, enjoying the simple act of moving. When magic – magic! starts to seem like work, it's a bad sign. You need to get out and get some stimulation.

"... what," you query the rain-drenched lawn uselessly. Post-rainstorm isn't the ideal time to tromp around the Forest for reagents; the cooler air brings out mosquitoes by the zillions, in the shade. Shops in the Village will be open, but you don't feel like shopping, just...

"Rrraarrgh," you whine, rubbing your hair with both hands. Men clustered under shop awnings, talking about nothing, leaning against railings and enjoying the brisk, cool breeze running down the village streets – that's what you'd be most likely to see. No, want to see. But won't. They'll be inside smoking and playing pool or parcheesi or whatever the hell they do, shut in their little smokey smelly dens of drowsy dumbassery.

Who the hell is Sekibanki of the Willows? She's the gal in the left picture, obviously.

Not only is she the protagonist of this dumb story; she's a generic youkai like you and I. What, you're not a youkai? Wow, your life must suck!

Sekibanki is a traditional creature: she thinks she's better than everyone else, and if someone tries to tell her otherwise, she'll retaliate with swift violence. Just like everyone else in Gensokyo. Her cynicism and short temper earned her a bad reputation amongst her peers, and many await the day when karma catches up to her and exact rightful retribution... in time.

This story begins in an ordinary day like any other...

"Boy, I sure do want me some noodles!" Shouted the dullahan all of a sudden. "I don't know why I am still hungry, because I ate breakfast just an hour ago, but I guess I'd better go to that sparrow's stand, even though it's at the other end of the Forest, and I could simply go home and prepare some instant noodles myself!"

Sekibanki, craving for some quality nourishment, decided to take a shortcut through the Forest of Magic to reach the Human Village before noon. At that moment, a flock of cute little dolls came flying at mach speed from nowhere, holding many big and heavy bags that had to be carried between six or seven dolls each one. Because of this, the dolls were practically out of control, and when they saw Sekibanki and Sekibanki saw them, it was already too late to change directions for either of them.

>>28268>At first I didn't believe my pal when he told me you had quite the high standards, but now I see he was completely right...Know what? I can’t blame you for doubting him. I mean after all, we are a fanfiction site. And fanfiction isn’t really known for being quality work. But it’s good to see you’re not letting these standards drag you down.

>I guess the OP really didn't interest anyone. Or maybe I had very bad luck and posted it on a time when nobody's aroundAnd about this; let me just be honest with you for a moment. I saw the post about 1 hour after it was posted, when I scanned through the boards for updates. Being that I’m always curious about new writers, I decided to give it a try. I won’t lie; I couldn’t make it past the 10th line, so I clicked away and ignore it. It was first when it was brought up in the discussion I had with a friend half a day later that I decided to give it a second go. As I said, when I first started, I’d say I was on a lower level than you right now, nevertheless I was given a chance by my readers, and I wanted you to have that same chance. After all, it was because of that I was able to improve like I did.

I’ll say it again. Keep at it, you can do it.

Also, you’re acquainted with IRC already, right? I’ll recommend you to join #Eientei. It’s a sub channel to #THP but less crowded. It’d be easier to get in contact with people there (unless you’re looking for someone specific).

This is a weird, discordant mix of light-hearted comedy and apparently sincere gruesome death threats. I can't tell whether our protagonist is actually a murderer or just an edgy teenager.

The characters are pretty...out-of-character. Not unusual for Touhou, of course, but generally you want to ease the audience into it. We have Alice's dolls showing up in the first post as a group of autonomous sentient beings who are capable of arguing with each other over decisions. Also, they have little to no personality (even as a group) and most of their dialogue is boring chatter or cliches.

>"Ehhhh!? Why me!?" Shanghai whined.>"Because you're the most popular!">"But I don't wanna! She's scary!">"Then what do we do now?"Establishing the role of the most popular doll character as "whiny and useless". Already feels like we're in a bad anime.

>"Avast! Hold tight your buns, if buns you do hold dear-!"The most interesting line out of a dozen should not be a reference to something with better writing. All it does is highlight how lazy and uncreative your writing is.

[-0-] Attempt to talk her out of it. She's just like a child, so she can be reasoned with. -[-0-] There are, of course, times when only force is sufficient to deal with a child. She forces your hand if proves reluctant to listen to reason.

------------

Now, you're willing to give the doll just one chance to listen to reason, to put the knife down and step away. Slowly, you begin to speak in an attempt to make her listen. "Now, Kyoto, just put that down. Mystia isn't dinner, so you can just put that away—"

Thunk.

This time, the knife descends on her neck, and you see it slice all of the way through. Time stands still as you watch Mystia and her shaking eyes as the neck begins to split in two, slowly sliding off until it hits the floor with a wet thud.

This has all been great fun to read. I really hope to see more stuff about this world you've adapted, because it is genuinely interesting- and definitely one of the most unique settings on these forums. It may be a bit dark, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel if we work for it, and those are the best kinds of CYOAs.

I look forward to the next thing you do! Especially if it involves a certain witch and her scientist friend (and HER legion of walking supertanks.)

Though, with all these PC-98 throwbacks (lord do I love them), I am left wondering, because they happen to be two of my favorite PC-98 characters...

>>27272I'm not planning to do anything else in this universe for a long while, actually. I've got to get over to /other/ for that story, and there are other projects I need to finish on a different site.

Granted, the thought of writing Marisa is rather tempting. I had the thought of doing something from the point of view of Marisa hunting Lucas. If we did that, though, we'd miss out on how he copes with being in his own world once again, yet not belonging at the same time.

The only module, so to speak, that I've planned out is the SDM one. And even that is a bare minimum of having the characters outlined and the plot somewhat fleshed out. I'd rather not leap headfirst into something that I barely understand. Although, if anyone else wants to pick up the ideas...

So, as to Mima and Shinki? Fraid I have no idea at this point, to be perfectly honest.